Forbes is one of the six operating partners of Learniverse LLC, a Portsmouth-based company that hopes to use animation featuring the characters Quazar, Neutrina and Fluxx to teach pre-kindergarten to second-graders some basic science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) principles. Forbes said they want to tap into a child's curiosity about the world around them.

"Kids, when they're born, all they do is ask questions. They're innately curious," Forbes said. "We want to be able to catch them before they stop asking."

Forbes is the marketing and branding expert in the group, and has experience as a marketing manager with Dunkin' Donuts. He's joined in the venture by:

• Dennis Neil Kleinman, the creative head who was part of the original team that created the long-running Public Broadcasting Service kids show "Reading Rainbow."

• Teon Edwards, who has a bachelor of arts degree in astrophysics from Williams College and a master of education degree from Harvard University, where she focused on the use of multimedia in education, is in curriculum development.

• Tom McCarron looks after the finances, and according to the company has decades-long experience in the formation, financing, strategic planning and management of business and product development ventures with a science and/or educational emphasis.• Tracey Graffam-Dickson is the operational head who for more than 10 years has been a consultant to Fortune 500 companies, implementing management approaches that are cost effective and encourage collaboration while meeting precise project timelines.

• Anne DeCossy heads fund-raising. She worked in development, management and long-range planning as vice president of development for California Pacific Medical Center.

"It was a relatively organic process," Forbes said of the formation of the partners who comprise Learniverse. "The company crystalized around the recognition that we do not do a good job teaching science principles to young kids, in particular pre-K to second grade."

It's the role of Quazar, Neutrina and Fluxx to teach those principles. They are featured in 8-minute-long episodes that focus on particular science principles such as the relationship between force and motion. Also featured is Willow, Forbes' sixth-grade daughter, who interacts with the cartoon characters called Quinks, described by Learniverse as "Quizzical Thinkers from Space, lovable, insatiably curious aliens who are on a mission to Earth to uncover its science secrets."

They move around in their bubble pods, popping up wherever in the world it's needed to see the science principles and concepts at work.

It's the role of Forbes and the partners to get Quinks and Willow into the classroom.

Forbes said the curriculum and the programming have been vetted by teachers and has received input from the University of New Hampshire STEM Discovery Lab. Learniverse has a media partner relationship with New Hampshire Public Television, and shortened segments of the 8-minute episodes will start appearing on NHPTV as "interstitials," Forbes said, in the fall.

According to Forbes, the NHPTV interstitials are part of a rollout campaign that will be directed first to New Hampshire schools, then more widely offered later. The programming, available through online streaming, is divided into segments by "an activity break to reinforce the key learnings," Forbes said.

"Any teacher, regardless of whether they have a background in science, can teach the episodes," he added. "Teachers find it easy to teach, and effective."

Forbes said Learniverse's operating partners rely on "strategic partnerships we've developed" for the voice actors, animation, filming and other technical concerns. Kleinman, acting as the creative partner, wrote the content, and produced and directed the episodes.

Forbes emphasized the programming can foster an early interest in science for young children by "leveraging their innate curiosity." He said it is important to capture that interest before they get too old. "Once the curiosity is turned off, they tend to rule out science," he said.

STEM has become a widely discussed topic in New Hampshire among politicians, manufacturers and educators who are looking at current and future jobs in the state that require skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Gov. Maggie Hassan in April created a task force with the mission of making recommendations for modernizing STEM education in Granite State schools. According to the governor's office, the specifics of the task force mission include:

Ensure the state's kindergarten through 12th grade STEM education is rigorous and extensive enough to prepare students to compete globally in today's technology-driven society. Examine the state's existing science standards and science education practices and consider best science and education practices nationwide. Examine the state's existing math standards and requirements and consider whether mathematics requirements for high school graduation should be increased. Examine current engineering and technology offerings and make recommendations for how to better integrate engineering and technology into existing school activities, how to provide academic pathways for students considering STEM careers and how to interest more students in STEM fields. Consider whether improvements to other areas of the curricula, such as arts education, could improve students' overall success; and identify barriers to implementing more rigorous STEM standards.

The Learniverse curriculum is tailored to meet the Next Generation Science Standards from the U.S. Department of Education. It will be distributed to schools at little or no cost via the Web.

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